Week 5: Visual Storytelling

Understand You Tube, Flickr, Instagram, the power of moving and still images on the web.

Understand visual storytelling. Using the short form in combination with images.

Make a video blog or some other kind of video post (mash up, screen cast, slide show) in order to work on video composition skills. I know many people hate public speaking, and talking to a camera / computer might be worst than public speaking, but “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Readings:

Read Chapter 5 of SMSG: You Tube and Flickr. These chapters, honestly, feel a little old because Flickr has fallen off the map, YouTube has changed, and Facebook allows users to upload videos directly. Mansfield doesn’t really break down visual storytelling, so look for articles that go a little deeper into what makes for a good photo, or good visual storytelling. This short article is just okay: The 4 qualities of powerful visual storytelling.

Case study: analyze the visual storytelling used by the non-profit you followed during the Giving Hearts Day campaign. Did they make a GHD video (do they use videos throughout the year?) What worked or didn’t work with the video(s). Do they use pictures with posts, Instagram, or other means of visual story telling?

Writing

Blog essay #4: make a video blog essay about still and video images: what do they do best? What organizations are deploying visuals effectively, and what are they doing? This video blog can be composed various ways: You can write up a short post with links to others, but talk to the camera, refer to the links; a screen cast like the kind I have been doing, (the Technology Learning and Media Center in QBB 150C can help you with screen casting), or a variation on these: team up with someone in class and talk about you saw this GHD for visual storytelling. I’m open to other options as well, as long as the final product is a video with you doing some analysis work of visual storytelling on GHD.

Interactions:

Share your Pinterest and Instagram accounts if you make them or already have them.

Share your YouTube channel or Flickr account if you have one. Be sure to Tweet out your video if you post to YouTube: it gives you many sharing options.

Use social media to crowdsource any technical challenges you might encounter making a video blog essay.

Use the Facebook group to discuss readings, share readings, ask questions.

Additional readings / screenings.

Check out the YouTube movie some time this week: “Life in a Day.” Fascinating use of YouTube as participatory culture.